CHAPTER ONE

1.0    Introduction

The importance of tax to the overall development of Nigeria economic cannot be over emphasized. Because almost all the facet of our economy has witness a face lift, and it is a result of tax. According to Mcclinethy, (2000), said “tax is a financial charge or other levy imposed upon a tax payer can individual or legal entity by a state or the functional equivalent of a state such that failure to pay is punishable by law”. Taxes consist of direct or indirect taxes and may be paid in money or as its labour equivalent.

According to black’s law dictionary, a tax is a “pecuniary burden laid upon individuals or property owners to support the government the payment enacted by legislative authority”. It is not a voluntary payment or donation, but an enforced contribution exacted pursuant to legislative authority and is any contribution imposed by government whether under the name of tool, tribute, tillage, gabal, impose, duty custom, excise, subsidy, aid, supply. Etc.

The legal definition and the economic definition of taxes differ in that economists do not consider many transfers to government to be taxes. For example, some transfers to the public sector are comparable to prices. They include tuition at public universities and fees for utilities provided by local government. Government  also obtain resources by creating money(example, printing bills and minting coins)through voluntary gifts (example, contributions to public universities and Muslims) by imposing  penalties (example, traffic fines)by borrowing and confiscating wealth. From economics view a tax is a